Giusy Larinà    Towards a typology of decorative façades in 18th-century Sicilian organs

concordanza

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The organ of the church of S. Maria Maggiore of Mineo (Illus. 2) was originally placed in a wooden gallery above the main altar; later, dismantled and almost destroyed, it was placed on a wooden balcony above the main entrance of the church.

The gilded case represents a late renaissance design in five fields with two organetti morti and decorative elements from the second half of the 18th century. We learn from a document by the lawyer Gaetano Frazet of Militello ^[6] that on 9 November 1752 "Master" Nicola Calì of Caltagirone, but resident at Militello, and "Master" Sebastiano of Mauro, native of Militello and living at Mineo, enter into agreement with the priest D. Nicola Maria de Interlandi

"... with their mastery, good timber, nails, with all other means necessary to make new the entire prospect or facade of the organ of this Venerable parish church of S. Maria Maggiore of the said town of Mineo, of carved wood, with mouldings and fretwork [liscio], with its harpies at the sides, carvings and reliefs, leaves and other fashionable items, form and manner according to the design on paper by Calì and Mauro ... that the frontispiece of the cornice at the top must be according to the small design on paper in their possession..."

Additionally, the fore-said "masters" had to construct

"... the parapet in front of the said organ with stairs in the roman style, to climb up to it, and whatever else was needed according to the above design such that the sides, consisting of the columns up till the pilasters of the chapels, must be smooth and without mouldings. This work of carved wood, cornices and panels to be done as above must be of the height and length as required by the said organ..."

For the realisation of these works the men had asked for 20 onze, but on the same day an offer of 17 onze was made for the same work by the brothers Francesco and Antonino La Ganà of Militello, who obviously were given preference. ^[7]
As far as we can tell from the document, the sculptors were contacted to remake the prospect of an existing organ and to enrich it with new decorations; it is therefore probable that they respected the original layout of the organ, possibly re-using the same case, renewing the facade with the addition of 18th-century decorative elements.

The prospect is actually of the renaissance type with 5 fields of cuspidi alternately of large and small pipes, the latter surmounted by organetti morti, arranged according to a 7 + 11 + 7 + 11 + 7 scheme, for a total of 43 pipes with enormous upper lips in Iberian style and mouths aligned in contrary motion to the cuspidi. The 18th-century decorations represented by two angels positioned at the sides of the case, improperly called "harpies" in the document, are clearly visible, as are the festoons and carvings which ornament the lower part of the prospect; however, little remains of the covering decorations, reduced to fragments. The fastigium, consisting of two angels holding up a crest with the initials of the Virgin Mary, divided in two in order to adapt the case to its current location e placed on the platform at the base of the organ, is also damaged. The cantoria was probably destroyed as a result of the re-location, as no trace of it remains.

The organ of the mother-church of S. Michele Arcangelo in Grammichele (Illus. 3) was built by the organbuilders Giuseppe Platané and Nicolò de Agata of Acireale, according to the contract made up on 3 February 1764 by the notary Alfio Maria Diana of Militello ^[8]. The above-mentioned "masters" were charged with the building of an organ in three castelli by the governor of the mother church D. Michele Majorana e Gravina,

"... the central field should bulge like a pigeon's breast and the other two equally concave, and this with woodwork like the rest of the same organ, which in all of its attraction and masteria (everything included and nothing excluded) should be majestically made, built and disposted of the same form and style of the design made for the organ of the Venerable Mother church of S. Nicolò the great, patron of this town of Militello, whose design as of today is in the hands of the above-mentioned Platané and Agata, as stipulated, and with all those sentiments, sound, proportions, carvings, works and other dispositions in the forementioned design... The organ must be consigned to the client ... completed and tuned, ready to play by 29 september next of the current year 1764, seen and approved by experts in the art... for the sum agreed which amounts to 90 onze."

The work was consigned late, as can be read from the inscription on the 29th pallet:

The instrument is place in the third intercolumnary space to the left of the central nave in a wooden gallery painted azure blue and white with gold highlights. The full-closed parapet, of mixed profile, is decorated with carvings and pilasters and embellished with festoons identical to those on the facade of the case; the latter protrudes from the arch of the nave, has a prospect in painted wood in the same chromatic tones as the cantoria and is divided into three fields. The 31 facade pipes (12+7+12) are arranged a cuspide with horizontally-aligned mouths and bay-leaf upper lips. The facade pipes of the organ are embellished with carvings and gilded friezes as well as covering decorations and the decorative lateral volutes; the modelling of the prospect proceeds sinuously, determined by the concave-convex form of the three fields, as described in the document cited above. The whole is perfectly contained within the limits of the serlian profile, enriched by floral garlands with the face of a putto framed by carvings at the summit.

Notes

[6] Archivio di Stato di Catania, notarile Militello, vol. 1171 c. 103.
[7] Ibidem, c. 106.
[8] Ibidem, notarile I versamento, vol. 9732 c. 629.